Walkie-talkie radios used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began exploding on Wednesday night in the south of the country and in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.
Following the pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices began to explode among the representatives of the Lebanese Hezbollah. News agencies, citing the Lebanese Ministry of Health, reported 14 dead and more than 450 injured. At least one of the blasts occurred near a funeral procession for those killed in a pager blast the previous day.
The explosions continued
According to Reuters, Hezbollah bought the walkie-talkies five months ago, around the same time as the pagers that exploded the day before. The radios are made in Japan. Phones, fingerprint readers and other lithium-ion battery-powered devices also exploded.
After the explosions, the Algerian authorities, on behalf of all Arab states, requested a meeting of the UN Security Council.
The head of Hezbollah’s executive committee, Hashem Safieddin, blamed Israel for what happened and promised there would be “bloody revenge.”
The goal is fear
Israeli authorities did not directly comment on the explosions. However, the country’s Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced the beginning of a new phase of the war and announced the transfer of the center of gravity of military efforts in the northern direction, that is, to the border of Lebanon. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi HaLevi warned that Israel has “more capabilities” to fight Hezbollah.
Reuters, citing a source, writes that Unit 8200, a secret unit that is part of the IDF’s military intelligence department, participated in the development of the operation. According to the agency, the preparation took more than a year. Sources told Axios that the purpose of the bombings was to increase paranoia and fear in Hezbollah in an attempt to force the group’s leadership to separate itself from Hamas and enter into a separate agreement to end hostilities with Israel, regardless the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Since all pagers and walkie-talkies are now seen as potentially deadly devices, the ability of Hezbollah members to communicate with each other has been undermined. Israel may be hoping that by showing how compromised Hezbollah’s communications are, the group will hesitate – or find it difficult to launch further strikes on Israeli territory. For now at least. Or Israel is carefully preparing the ground for its own major operation in Lebanon.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.